Turkish Crimean Medal (British issue), 1855

The readiness of Great Britain and France, and also Sardinia whose contribution is often forgotten, to aid the Ottoman Empire in the
Crimean War, was recognised by Sultan Abdul Mejid I with the issue of a medal for all the troops of all nations involved, struck to a slightly different design for each country.
The majority of the medals for British troops were however lost with their ship during carriage to Britain in 1860, and so British troops often obtained themselves copies of the
Sardinian or the
French issue instead. This is one of the genuine
British issue, with the Union Jack given pride of place in the field.
This medal was awarded to Colonel Lawrence Fyler of the 12th Lancers, whose medal group has come entire into the Watson Collection and shows a career spent in
India and
the Eastfighting for the Crown from the
1830s to the
1850s.
This medal is attached to two others and the catalogue of the Watson Collection considers it as part of
Group8 (this comprising two assemblages and two
loosemedals). For provenance of the group see those entries.